A 38-year-old Sequim man was convicted of domestic violence crimes in late June, the Clallam County Prosecutor’s Office said.

Joseph Brian Ueltzen, 38, of Sequim, was convicted by a Clallam County jury on June 27 of Felony Harassment — Threat to Kill, Intimidating a Witness and Assault in the Fourth Degree. The jury found that all crimes consisted of Domestic Violence.

The jury also found Ueltzen not guilty of Unlawful Imprisonment.

Ueltzen — who had three prior misdemeanor convictions from 1999 and 2000 for Assault in the Fourth Degree–Domestic Violence, but no prior felony convictions — was sentenced on July 5 by Superior Court Judge Christopher Melly to 15 months prison and a year of supervision by the Washington State Department of Corrections.

According to court records, Ueltzen and the victim — with whom he had been in a relationship for about five years — checked into a hotel room the evening of Nov. 25, 2017. After about 45 minutes of verbal abuse, the victim flung food at Ueltzen, who then pinned the victim down on the bed and held her nose pinched and mouth closed with his hand. The victim testified that she could not breathe for over a minute and that she “pleaded with her eyes” to be let go. Ueltzen let go and then forcibly grabbed the victim’s cheek, leaving significant gouges in the flesh on her face, the prosecutor’s office said.

Ueltzen told the victim to clean up the blood, threatened to kill the victim by throwing her off the third story of the hotel and also told the victim that he would “dump her body in the bay” if she reported the assault to the police, the prosecutor’s office said.

The state recommended a sentence of 20 months prison, the high end of the sentencing range under Washington law, one year of supervision and treatment conditions, the county prosecutor’s office said. The defense recommended a first time offender option that would have resulted in a sentence of not more than 90 days jail and 12 months supervision.